School district to decide fate of 2 charter schools

Two Lee County charter schools are accused of misreporting attendance and grades so students would graduate. Now both schools are on the chopping block.

The school year is inching closer with each passing day, but parents with children at Richard Milburn Academy in Fort Myers and Lee Alternative Charter High School in Lehigh Acres will find student's futures in the air.

That's because a Lee County school district investigation found students, "were awarded a diploma despite the fact they failed to satisfy the requirements."

The two charter schools are run by the Richard Milburn Academy of Florida Incorporated.

After problems surfaced with another one of the company's schools in Manatee County, officials with the Lee County district spent hundreds of hours pouring through student records.

Lee county school district says the governing board for Richard Milburn Academy admits both schools misrepresented student attendance a total of 41 times.

Staff also made errors on reporting credit transfers for 15 students and counted courses towards graduation when they shouldn't have a dozen times.

The district also uncovered students getting credit for taking classes more than once.

Lee County says that's not only against district policy, but violates Florida state statutes as well.

Neither side wanted to comment, but documents show the Milburn Academy told the district its, "staff is now using academic histories and permanent records to place students in appropriate courses to prevent inappropriate retakes."

The district felt the schools, "provided little assurance that the school could effectively remedy the defects."

The schools' governing board met with district officials Friday afternoon.

Next week Lee County will decide whether it will terminate its contract with the Richard Milburn Academy.